Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush olive oil into a 3 quart oven safe roasting pan. If the oven is hotter reduce the cooking time by about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Peel potatoes and cut into 1’1 1/2″ chunks. Boil for about 5 minutes. Drain.

In heavy skillet heat 1 tablespoon of EVOO and saute onion for about 5-7 minutes until caramelized. Add mushrooms and toss with onions. Cook for about a minute and remove from heat. Add drained potatoes and toss. Add agave and toss.

Evenly place them into the prepared pan and roast for about 30 minutes until they are soft.

It’s that time of year, isn’t it? The days are longer and we somehow seem to have even more to do. If you’re like me, you don’t want to spend all the daylight inside cooking. I try to sneak at least a half an hour each evening to getting things done outside. Winter is SO LONG!

The other night I wanted something quick on the grill. I bought a teriyaki seasoned steak from Wegman’s.

I cut it up into bite sized pieces and used a new set of skewers my cousin gave me for Christmas. Good cousin! I seasoned pieces of orange bell pepper and tomatoes that were about 2 inches in diameter with olive oil, salt and pepper. I think next time I will not use the tomatoes and instead use onions chopped into large cubes. Alternating, I added the tomato, beef and pepper trying to put the skewer into the middle of each piece.

We grilled them until the beef was caramelized on the outside (teriyaki marinade has a little sugar in it) and medium rare on the inside, about 8 minutes total.

Wegman’s makes roasted Brussels sprouts that we eat like candy. Imagine a vegetable, especially this one, eaten like candy. We just love them. But, they did not have them this past week. What to do?

Make them myself!

Remove the stem and peel off outer leaves of the Brussels Sprouts.

Dice a few pieces of Pancetta that you can get at the deli counter. Ask them to cut it thick, about 1/4″. Dice it into small 1/4″ cubes. Do this easily by stacking them on top of each other and cutting them all at once.

Mom wasn’t drinking out of red solo cup but she didn’t need that modern day symbol of celebration to grasp the enormity of this passage. Her life was one of hope and dedication.
She was one of the Father Baker Children.

His road to Roman Catholic sainthood inspired her and gave her a source of pride at what many would consider unfortunate beginnings. Her own path to a loving family had twists and turns and when she finally was welcomed into the home of Frank, a landscape designer, and Theresa Carl she learned the value of hard work, faith and service.

She was a PTA mom, a railroad employee and the ultimate church lady. She loved her friends, her family and her church faith community. Anyone who knew her also knew about those she loved since she shared every tidbit of information she could glean from them. The downside of that is obvious but the upside is also good. If you needed to know the married name of the girl you shared a locker with in grammar school, Lorraine was the woman for you.

My mother-in-law was a woman of simple taste. If you fed her some meat and any form of potato she would dine in perfect happiness.

I remember one meal, years ago where I made rice as the starch. Everything was on the table and I was finally seated. We said grace and began to pass out the food and my mother-in-law was quiet, scanning the table like she was looking for Waldo. I asked if she was ok and she said yes but she was wondering where the potatoes were. I guess rice was not even a cheap substitute!

She made the most wonderful turkey stuffing with bread and a seasoning called Bell’s Seasoning.

It is completely different from the Italian style stuffing my mother makes…and I love it.

Every picnic was not complete without her potato salad. Her recipe is so simple:

Meanwhile, scrub 2-3 russet potatoes. 2 large potatoes makes more than enough fries for three people. Cut in half, cut each half in half then each piece in half again. Each potato makes eight large fries. Boil in salted water for two minutes.

Drain on a towel

Put dry potatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and toss with your hands. Sprinkle with seasoning (Old Bay, garlic powder, onion powder). Lightly grease a cooking sheet with oil and rub around with your hands. Put fries in a single layer on sheet and cook at 425 for about 20 minutes until brown turning once.

Sure these are good with Ketchup but give a good blue cheese like Marie’s Chunky Blue Cheese a try. For extra zip shake a few sprinkles of Frank’s Hot Sauce for Buffalo Style Fries.